What Will Obama Do About Gridlock?
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on January 30th, 2010 5:32 am by HL
What Will Obama Do About Gridlock?
Jim Manzi, National Review
Enter Your E-Mail Address to Sign UpFriday, January 29, 2010Delayed Reaction to the State of the Union [Jim Manzi]It has taken me a while to assess my reaction to President Obama’s speech. On the whole, I think his supporters should be somewhat dismayed. It struck me as very effective in diagnosing problems, and in proposing policy solutions that — even though I disagree with many (but not all) of them — are well-reasoned and might plausibly succeed; but as far as I can see, he proposed no realistic solution to the political problem that he…
State of the Union Pressed Reset Button
Michael Tomasky, The Guardian
The main task before Barack Obama in his state of the union address was to push the reset button. To reclaim some control over the agenda, which he had basically lost since about last October, when it became apparent that the signature healthcare initiative was going to take longer to pass than Hadrian took to build his wall.So did he? Yes, for now. On the most fundamental level, Obama made it clear that the top item in his in-basket is the matter that most occupies Americas' minds: jobs. He mentioned the word 29 times in the speech. Thursday, he and vice-president Joe Biden followed up…
President Obama’s Health Care Mistake
Paul Howard, Forbes
It's never too late to do what you said you were going to do. This is the chief lesson that President Obama should draw from Massachusetts voters' stunning rebuke to Democrat's bloated and expensive health care legislation. Obama campaigned as a centrist who would draw on the best ideas of both parties, but he has governed by deferring to the liberal wing of his party and locking Republicans out of Democrats' backroom health care deals. As a result, the current bill is justly opposed by the majority of Americans as too expensive, too convoluted and packed with bribes,…
Misguided Policies: Obama Doesn’t Quit
Frank Beckmann, Detroit News
The most revelatory words from President Barack Obama's State of the Union address came near the end when he uttered, “I don't quit.” It's something to remember when digesting his incongruous remarks to the nation this week. The president re-emphasized just about every major point of his 2008 political campaign and even gave reason for brief hope that he might embrace a few ideas that aren't in lockstep with the left-wing ideology he has pushed for a year. Then came reality. When he said, “I don't quit,” he meant he truly will push every single…
The Obama Contradiction
Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal
When you watch a president give a State of the Union Address on television, you're always watching three people: the president at the podium, and the vice president and House speaker on the rise behind him. As a TV shot it's awkward. The vice president and the speaker have been instructed by media professionals not to let their eyes do what they want to do, which is survey the doings in the chamber. Instead they must stare unwaveringly at the back of the president's head. This is so that they appear to be fascinated by what he's saying, as if he's so interesting that…
